The present invention is related to medical devices. More particularly, the present invention is related to implant retrieval devices and methods of retrieving an implant from a body vessel.
Implantable medical devices or medical implants continue to be improved and used for treatment in patients. For example, vena cava filters are more commonly being used for trapping blood clots and emboli in the vena cava filter to prevent pulmonary embolism. Moreover, removable baskets (e.g., stone retrieval baskets) are more commonly used for retrieving urinary calculi. Additionally, occlusion coils are commonly used to occlude aneurysms and accumulate thrombi in a body vessel.
A need for filtering devices and other medical implants arises in trauma patients, orthopedic surgery patients, neurosurgery patients, or in patients having medical conditions requiring bed rest or non-movement. During such medical conditions, the need for filtering devices may arise due to the likelihood of thrombosis in the peripheral vasculature of patients wherein thrombi break away from the vessel wall, risking downstream embolism or embolization. For example, depending on the size, such thrombi pose a serious risk of pulmonary embolism wherein blood clots migrate from the peripheral vasculature through the heart and into the lungs.
More commonly, medical implants (e.g., vena cava filters) are being designed to be retrievable or removable. Thus, manufacturers are continuously challenged in providing improved ways of retrieving an implant. For example, although adequate, many current retrieval apparatus include a number of components to be manipulated during percutaneous introduction in a patient. In some situations, the mere number of movable components may cause difficulty to the practitioner. As a result, this may lead to additional time required in retrieving an implant in the patient.
Thus, there is a need to provide an improved way of retrieving medical implants from a body vessel of a patient.